The First Time
by valentine999
Summary: The first time 'I love you' was muttered between the AF pairings. Written purely for my own enjoyment and to get back into the AF swing of things. PauloxLi, HexxAmber and AlexxLily because let's face it, Lily is the only one for Alex haha. (Lily being from Valentine's AF universe; this is set after White Gold and before The Devil's Backbone, I just assume you all know who she is!).
**I just realised I have read two AF books in my life and there are ten. Wtf was I doing for the last ten years? I went onto amazon and bought them all this morning ahahaha.**

 **Also, since Alex and Lily started dating when they were quite young, a lot of their "first times" happen years before the other pairings "first times" so a little indication of the timing of the situation is given.**

* * *

 _Alex and Lily- a few years after White Gold, around seven years before The Devil's Backbone, when they are in their last year of school._

In a sleepy town in Buckinghamshire, England, one of the most prestigious girls schools in the country sat at the bottom of a hill, still and quiet in the early hours of the morning. A usually busy road had a only few cars swishing past the school as the working day began, almost sounding as though they were calling upon the inhabitants of the town to wake up. Winds that swirled around the school began to shake the rafters which had held up the old establishment for over one hundred years. This gentle movement of the softening timber caused the floorboards to creak and moan under the weight of the old school house. Sunlight that drifted in through partially parted curtains warmed up the wood with an earthy, spicy scent that the students had become used to.

One student, who could not become used to that woody scent, nor the quietness of the town and the coldness of the country, was lost in slumber in a room on the top floor of the dormitories. With caramel coloured skin and dark hair, this girl was clearly not of British descent. More used to a city by the sea, nights filled with Spanish music and good wine, she was usually undisturbed by the rather subdued wake-up calls Britain had to offer. Today, however, something was nagging her from the back of her brain, forcing her to wake up.

Lily opened her eyes a fraction and immediately closed them as the harsh sunlight of the British summertime overwhelmed her pupils. Before she had closed her eyes, she caught a glimpse of the floor by her desk, a bottle of liquor was tipped over and cushioned comfortably by a grey woollen jumper that did not belong to her. Her long earrings glittered on the floor as she had taken them off in the middle of the night to be more comfortable, and threw them onto the floor with haste. In fact, her floor was a mess of clothing and glass bottles. Only everything above the floor was neat and tidy as the overly organised and somewhat nerdy girl liked. But in these last few days of school, following her exams and in her last year of school, she was not in need of any of her books.

Slowly, Lily opened her eyes again to figure out the source of a new sound; like a spitting fire or a bizarre tick of a clock that did not keep time properly, an odd sound filled the girl's ears. She lifted her head from the pillow and looked to her doorway. It seemed the source of the noise was outside her room, quite far away…like a buzzing bee or a the clattering of tiny insect feet on a wooden floor-

"Lily Vargas!" She sat bolt upright and reached out a hand, suddenly remembering what it was that was nagging her.

"Alex!" She whispered urgently and pushed him to wake up. Within a moment, a blonde haired boy was sat up beside her.

"Oh no, not again." Alex muttered and looked to his wrist to check his watch; he was going to be late and couldn't afford to be caught here. Immediately, he stood from Lily's bed and reached across for his jeans. Lily stood too, still listening to that odd sound which she now knew to be the infuriated mutterings of her housemistress. She ran to her desk and picked up Alex's bag as he dressed, before she scooped up his belongings from her desk and into the bag. "Bag," Alex called for as soon as she finished.

"Here," Lily threw it to him, aware that the badmouthing she was receiving from her housemistress was getting louder as the woman ascended the stairs.

"Keys?" Alex felt his pockets as he searched for his car keys.

"Here-"

"Lily?!" Came a voice behind the door to Lily's room as the girl threw Alex his keys. "If that boy is in there again!" The door handle turned but the door did not budge. Lily smirked as she saw the makeshift lock she had made was doing the trick. A sudden breeze entered the room, causing Lily to look over to the window. Alex had opened it and was peering down to his car which was parked just beyond the school gates. All he had to do was climb out the window, jump onto the housemistress' roof, running along the wall and jump over the gate. Simple.

"Hey!" Lily exclaimed as Alex got onto the windowsill without saying goodbye. The girl from Peru jumped over her bed and ran to the window as the grey eyed boy jumped back into the room.

"Lily Vargas, you open this door right now, or so help me!" Came another shout. They could even hear, outside the room, the chatter of the girls at the school, all waking up and coming out of their rooms to see what the commotion was. But neither Alex nor Lily cared very much. Upon approaching him, Lily pushed him aggressively so his back hit the wall; a way of showing her annoyance that he was going to leave without saying goodbye. She looked him in the eye as he pushed her hair behind her ear.

Lily was just as delicate and sweet as the day they had met; with her big, intelligent brown eyes that always caught him unawares and her soft, full lips that she bit just to tease him. Looking up at Alex, Lily took in the sight of the boy for she was getting used to only seeing the back of him. He ran away from her so often, whether it was to go to teach with the ACF or to meet with Alpha Force; Alex never seemed to stick around for very long. When would she see him again? Her golden eyes rounded with fear and affection as he was about to say goodbye. Alex had to stop himself; he knew that look in her eye, he had seen it on too many occasions. What should he tell her this time? _See you in a week…a month…a year?_ He couldn't keep doing this to her, he thought as he put a hand to the side of her face. He was about to say goodbye when she opened her mouth to speak.

"Te quiero, Alex." She said softly causing Alex's eyes to widen before he smiled bashfully. He did not speak Spanish, but he needed no translation. He looked down to her with a heavy heart. Why did she have to say it? He'd been going years without mentioning it because It would make things so much harder. But what was the point in lying any longer? He kissed her softly.

"I love you, Lily." And with that, Alex was out the window.

"LILY VARGAS!" Her housemistress boomed into the room as she managed to push the door open finally, breaking the lock Lily had taken weeks to make. She came across the sight of Lily stood with her back to the door, looking out the window. A glance around the room added insult to injury for the school teacher. "Stealing liquor from my office?" The woman breathed, steam almost issuing from her mouth as she became more enraged. "That's it! I've had just about enough of this! You're out of this school, Miss Vargas!" Lily turned back slowly as though she had just become aware of her housemistress' presence. The girl had a far away look on her face as though she were paying no attention. Her schoolmates all peered round the door to see what had caused Lily to be expelled.

"It was worth it." Lily muttered with a wry smile.

* * *

 _Li and Paulo- six years before The Devil's Backbone_

Waterloo station is a nightmare during commuter hours, and this Wednesday night at 7pm was no exception. The station was alive with late night Christmas shoppers, business men hurrying home and Londoners making their way back to the centre of the city. The air was crisp and cold with Winter chill and left everyone with permanently pink, pinched cheeks. The slender girl waiting on platform 14 was no exception.

In a long dark coat, a sparkly grey wool scarf protecting her neck from the bitter cold, Li Cheong stood with barely suppressed excitement, at the thought of seeing him again. She reached inside her pocket and fumbled around for her phone as it was hard to get a grip of with wool covered hands. Eventually she took it out and powered up the screen. No message from him yet, but no matter, she would still be here to greet him as his train came in in ten minutes.

7:10 pm arrived and passed. The train pulled into the station quickly, mirroring the manner in which its commuters got off the train. Li waited on the platform, dodging people as they walked past her, looking through the crowds for any sign of her handsome Argentinian friend. The platform filled up with people leaving the train and their worlds collided with those trying to get on the train. In a crowd, a mess of people, Li stood, looking from side to side, down the platform, to the ticket hall thinking she may have missed him. Soon, the platform was empty.

A gentle wave of panic and worry began to rise inside of Li, she tried to laugh it off as though it were no big deal. Perhaps he had passed her and not seen her? Perhaps he had missed the- Li jumped as she heard her ringtone blare out from her coat pocket. Upon retrieving her phone, she smiled when she saw his name. She answered the call with a chirpy hello.

"Where are you?! Did you miss your-"

"Li, I can't make it today." Her heart broke at these words. She looked down the platform once more in the hopes that he was teasing her. "I'm sorry."

"But…" Her eyes misted over with tears, "but this is the last time before I leave..and you," her voice broke, "you missed the last two-"

"I know. I know." Paulo responded as though irritated; he hated himself more than anything else in the world right now. "We'll see each other."

"When?" She pleaded, sniffing in the cold air.

"Soon." There was a minute of silence that stretched on and all Li could hear was the tannoy system announcing the next train delays. "Li?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." Her eyes went blank, her face turned dark. She ended the call.

 _No, Paulo._ She thought bitterly as she pulled up her collar to further guard her from the chill of London. _You don't get to. Not this time. You're not getting away with it. Don't tell me you love me and fail to prove it by yet again disappointing me._

Li tried to forget it. To not let this be the first time he said it. But, of course, it was. And would always remain that.

* * *

 _Hex and Amber- a year or two before The Devil's backbone._

"I told you 2PM, Hex!" Amber shouted down the phone. Stood outside the doors to a cinema hall, Amber was fuming in the corridor, glaring at anyone who stared at her."You're so attached to your freaking palmtop it's practically a part of you!" She shouted, "which makes you part digital clock. And yet YOU ARE LATE!" A child ran past Amber in fright, making her lower her voice. "You're running slow, Code Boy. You need a gear change!" She heard Hex sigh on the other end of the line. She could almost see him staring at her with a bored expression from behind his laptop.

"Analogue clocks have gears, digital clocks do not." Came the smart-arse response. Amber had half a mind to put the phone down and leave the cinema. Hex had been acting strange all week and now he was late for the first date they were able to go on in months! She clicked her tongue with impatience.

"This is not the time!" Amber turned to the doors and pushed them open.

"I'm sorry!" She heard Hex say exasperatedly as she entered the empty hall. "I said I was making my way to you as quickly as possible!" Amber found her way to her seat easily as the lights in the hall were still on; it was too early to dim the lights for the movie.

"This ain't quick enough!" She whispered loudly.

"Fine." Hex spoke suddenly, causing Amber to jerk in surprise; she's never known Hex to back down so easily. "What do you want me to do Amber, shut down the entire cinema and make them all wait for me?" She pouted.

"Why do you have to make everything into an argu…" Her voice faded as the lights began to dim.

"What's up?" Hex's voice echoed from her phone throughout the empty hall. Amber looked around to see if anyone else had entered to watch the movie but she was alone.

"The lights went out," Amber whispered, "but it's ten minutes before the film starts." Amber lowered her voice further as the screen flickered from black to a dark grey, clearly something was being projected. She craned her neck to see if there was someone at the projector but she could see no one.

"Are you just saying that to make me feel bad?" Hex, who she had momentarily forgot about, began to speak and she looked back down to the phone. "That's real nice, Amber, thanks." She brought the phone to her ear again and sighed.

"No, you idiot, I…" But her voice trailed away as two words appeared white against the dark background:

 _Hey Amber_

Soft music began to play, a tune Amber recognised as one she used to play on the piano when she was too lazy to look up any difficult music.

"Amber?" Hex spoke again but Amber was lost for words as a picture of her and Hex appeared on screen,possibly the first one of them ever taken of them together.

 _This song always makes me think of you. You used to play it when we were hanging out after missions with Alpha._

The picture changed to a photograph of the two of them with their best friends. All cooly lounging on deck chairs on the beach of some forgotten island.

 _Do you realise this is the exact cinema hall we were in on our first date?_

"Sorry I'm late." Amber jumped as Hex appeared out of the darkness of the cinema hall and sat beside her. As the picture changed to one of the two of them on their first date, at the cinema right here in Boston, Amber finally regained the ability to speak.

"Hex, what the hell-?"

"Shhhh, this is the best part!" Hex pointed to the screen as more writing appeared:

 _I was so nervous- the world of cyberspace is less intimidating than a date with you._

"Hex!"

"Are you seriously gonna talk through the whole movie?" He interrupted her and gestured to the screen.

 _I've always been more comfortable with computers and words on a screen, so here goes._

Amber held her breath.

 _Amber Middleton, I love you._

Hex smiled nervously and turned to her, waiting for the squeal and smile and embrace. But as he looked to her face in the semi-darkness, illuminated by pictures of their relationship, he saw Amber was wiping her eyes. He moved forward, alarmed.

"Amber-"

"You even had to make saying _I love you_ just another time where you get one over on me, huh?" She choked. Hex took her shaking hands, not entirely understanding her reaction.

"It would not have been true to our relationship if that weren't the case." He relaxed as she laughed lightly. "I love you, Amber," as he said it, with such conviction, Amber glanced up and looked him straight in the eye. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to say to you and the only thing I've ever wanted to say." He muttered bashfully. "I'm sorry it took so long." He sat there, waiting for her response. Amber cleared her throat and leant towards him.

"I love you too, Hex."

* * *

 **So I was thinking to either leave this as a one-shot or to have successive chapters each containing a "first time" scenario (get your mind out of the gutter). For example one could be 'the first date', or 'the time we first moved in together' or not so fluffy things like 'the first time one of their parents passed away'…'the first time they had to say goodbye'- if they broke up or something.**

 **I was also thinking of including "first times" that were not for the couples but for individuals. So something like 'the first time Hex asked for romantic advice' and would feature his experiences with two or three more characters.**

 **Actually, you know what, I think that's a great challenge- the 'first time' challenge. What do you guys think? Shall I add it to the thread? Oh, I'm excited now- we can all challenge each other to write 'first time' scenarios.**

 **Also, I forgot how much I liked Lily. She was cool hahaha, I think cooler than Razor from Kill Me if You Can. What do you guys think?**

 **Please review :)**

 **Woohoo, good to be back!**


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